Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition

The Hannibal at the Gates Campaign Pack for Total War: ROME II is OUT NOW!

Dropping you into the Western Mediterranean at the outbreak of the 2nd Punic War, Hannibal at the Gates features a new campaign map focused on the period that brought the ancient-world superpowers of Rome and Carthage to all-out war.

You enter the war as Carthage or Rome, command the noble Hellenic city-state of Syracuse, or, for the first time in ROME II, play an Iberian faction as the Arevaci or the Lusitani.

Alongside the pack, a new free Seasons & Wonders update has been rolled out to all ROME II users. This update includes a unit-roster expansion for Carthage, Twitch.TV streaming support, new great wonders for battlefields, touchscreen support, and introduces seasons into the ROME II Grand Campaign. The update also brings a host of new technical, AI and gameplay improvements in both battle and campaign. You can view some of the new Wonders and ROME II campaign map seasons in this video.

Honestly, if you don't mind the gameplay style, I'd urge you to get Medieval 2. I think it's still the high point in the series - the gfx don't show as well as they do in Shogun 2 or Rome 2, but they're still very playable, and the city building / country development is way better, more detailed, and more open ended. I've still not forgiven CA for not having *road building* in Rome 2....thought it was something the Romans were known for. In any case, the other reasons to get Med 2 are the mods - the Lord of the Rings and the Warhammer mods are both exceptional, @ moddb.com.

look at Realwarfare Northern Crusades 2 for instance , now on Steam for 5 bucks. it mimics the CA totalwar Style but is more like it used Mount and Blade as a template to make a modded out total war like game and it doesn't have the polish of a CA total war title. I think its Russian made, I'm not sure though. Still , Medieval 2 total war being as old as it is I was tempted to buy it until I youtubed a gameplay video.

You have to admit although Rome 2 needs mods and Shogun 2 I must add, if CA didn't make these games to give modders something to fix we wouldn't get games like these anywhere else. They are basically and conceptually well done, the devil is in the details.